The Meta Trader 5 platform is the new, upgraded version of the MT4. Many clients are hesitant and feel reluctant to upgrade to the new version. The MT4 has established itself as the leading platform, and many clients do not want to give in to any changes. Nevertheless, the MT5 comes with new advanced features, and the other half of the traders is looking forward to it – if they have not switched to the latest version already.
MT4 vs. MT5
The MT4 platform has been known for a user-friendly and convenient interface, but the MT5 offers additional features like larger icons, a wider range of timeframes, easier navigation, customized indicators, etc. The icons might be bigger, but the charts are smaller with MT5. All in all, the MT5 retains all major features contained in MT4, with a sophisticated touch. It has more advanced technical indicators. It also enables downloading of external indicators which other platforms support. Traders have to make their own choice which platform they like better and whether they want to upgrade to the new version. One thing is for sure; the MT5 is more flexible.
The MT5 Open to U.S. Citizens/No Hedging
The MT4 has not been available to U.S. citizens for one reason. Hedging is illegal in the USA. For some reason, the CFTC (the US regulatory authority) declared hedging as an illegal Forex activity. As all traders know, the MT4 platform supports hedging, and they have been offering this technique ever since they had first launched. MT5, on the other hand, does not support hedging. The platform finally gets the opportunity to conquer America. That is an extraordinary opportunity to secure a major client-base of willing traders. The MT5 will bring in more clients from overseas, and many US traders can’t wait to get a taste of the European Forex market. Let us quickly remind you of what hedging is. Hedging refers to trading in the opposite direction of your initial trade. You buy a position, and at the same time, you put it up for sale by opening another position. In that way, you are hedging your first position and minimize the risk of loss. Many European traders cannot understand why hedging should be illegal at all; it works perfectly fine in all other parts of the world. Many traders rely heavily on hedging and would not want to give that up, not even for a more advanced platform like the MT5.
Accidental Hedging
The MT4’s revolutionized auto trading and trading signals, which contributed to the success of the platform. Many traders rely on the little helpers very frequently. They set their own parameters and leave their trades to be delegated by the software. Now let us take into consideration that MT5 does not allow hedging and how it relates to automated trading. Imagine that you have set two Expert Advisors on the same currency pair independent of each other, employing different strategies and setting different expiry times. Even if this is not directly hedging, it will be recognized as such by the MT5. If it happens, that one enters a buy order and the other a sell order around the same time, MT5 will cancel both. Given that your robots will not be prepared for that, no one knows what will happen and how they will react. It could ruin your strategy and incur significant losses on a single trade. Therefore, fans of MT5 should be careful in setting the parameters to avoid creating an accidental hedge.
Trusted Forex Brokers that offer MT5
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MT5 and Access to Additional Markets
As already known, the MT4 has ruled the Forex business, and many ask the question if MT5 was even necessary. The MQ, company behind Meta Trader platform, wanted to offer more advanced features, better functionality, more timeframes and indicators to their traders along with expanding to other markets.The MT5 has more capacities to integrate more markets, which could not be accessed through MT4. More markets will bring in new clients and new broker companies, and on top of all, more profit. Some markets that have been already accessed with MT5 include some Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Pakistan, and African broker companies. Now, traders from all over the world will be able to try one of the MQ platforms thanks to the new MT5 version. Besides all of these markets, like the Australian Stock Exchange, which are real hits for the MQ, the main focus is to attract millions of U.S. users. Since the MT4 is completely shut out from the U.S. market, the MT5 is aimed to dominate America and to set new standards in the American Forex industry.
Advanced Auto-Trading
Just like the MT4, the MT5 continues with the usage of automated trading. Expert robots are somewhat more advanced with MT5 whereby the MQL5 language is more flexible. What traders do not like is that the MQL5 is not compatible with MT4 and requires a complete switch to the MT5. The language built in MT5 is MQL5 which provides for more flexibility. The main option it includes is Object-Oriented Programming allowing traders to divide the program into blocks. It works on the principle that anytime you enter something into the block, an outcome can be expected. Basically, traders can create and code their own blocks and use them later when creating another system for automated trading.
Superior Advantages of MT5
One of the achievements of MT5 is definitely the multi-currency strategy tester where an option is provided to do it automatically in contrast to the tedious manual setting available with MT4. It is faster and more efficient. Another advantage is that due to faster optimization, the configuration of Forex robots does not take too long and saves valuable time.
Conclusion
MT5 may have its perks and advantages, but as it seems, the MT4 remains the favorite of the majority of traders. In some aspects, it might seem that the MT5 has been designed to fit the American market and that it is not going to disturb MT4 lovers. Even though traders still have the choice to stay with the MT4 version, no one knows yet if the platform will be automatically upgraded to the latest version, the MT5, as seen in the examples of many other technological inventions many times.